New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday that there was no evidence a car crash and explosion at a Niagara Falls border crossing was terrorism, nor have any explosive devices been found at the scene.
“At this time, there is no indication of a terrorist attack,” Hochul said, according to NBC News. “Let me repeat that: At this time, there is no indication of a terrorist-involved attack here at the Rainbow Bridge in Western New York.”
The information is preliminary, Hochul said, and investigators have not ruled out that the crash was intentional.
A driver and a passenger in the car were killed when it approached the Rainbow International Bridge checkpoint at a high rate of speed, went airborne, and struck a cement pillar before the explosion, as CrimeOnline reported. Thick, heavy smoke and flames erupted from the point of impact.
Hochul told a news conference that a booth agent at the checkpoint was injured but was released from the hospital later in the day, ABC News reported. Video from US Customs and Border Patrol showed the vehicle as it sailed into the air before the crash.
“You actually had to look at it and say, ‘Was this generated by A.I.?’ because it was so surreal to see how high in the air this vehicle went and then the crash and explosion and the fire,” the governor said.
CBP is working closely with @FBI, federal, state & local partners in response to a vehicle explosion at Rainbow Bridge which remains closed. Out of abundance of caution, CBP temporarily suspended inbound/outbound traffic at 3 other Buffalo crossings that have since reopened. pic.twitter.com/pTXyUsavRB
— CBP (@CBP) November 22, 2023
Hochul said debris was scattered over an area covering 13 or 14 security booths at the checkpoint, and investigators have not found a license plate. The vehicle was “incinerated,” she said, with nothing but the engine remaining intact, CBS News reported.
Hochul said the vehicle, traveling from the US toward Canada, appeared to hit a curb and a fence, sending it into the air before it slammed down again in the CBP inspection area, where it exploded.
Ron Rienas, general manager of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authorities, said that all four bridges cross between Canada and the United States over the Niagara River were closed out of an abundance of caution but later reopened. The Rainbow Bridge remained closed.
The Buffalo Niagara International Airport said it was increasing security for the time being in the wake of the crash.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told parliament that the government was working in close contact with US officials and that “additional measures are being contemplated and activated at all border crossings across the country.”
“We are taking this extraordinarily seriously,” Trudeau said.
Toronto police said they were stepping up security “out of an abundance of caution” after the crash. The department said there were “no known threats” to the city, about 89 miles around the west end of Lake Ontario from the Niagara area.
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[Featured image: In this image taken from security video, a light colored vehicle, top center in red box, flies over a fence into the Rainbow Bridge customs plaza. (Customs Border Protection via AP)]
